The Tristan Betrayal is a departure from what I have come to expect from Robert Ludlum, which is probably why I enjoyed this novel so much. It is primarily an historical thriller taking place in Europe during World War II, with only loose tales to the modern day (1991) event that is occurring. In present time, with the Soviet Union is under siege by the hardliners who want to take control of the country, American Ambassador Stephen Metcalf is called upon to convince the one person who can prevent this from happening to stop it. Metcalf does this by relaying the tale of his youth when he was a spy for the United States prior to them joining the war effort in Europe. He has been given the assignment to have a former Russian lover of his to pass off falsified documents to her Gestapo boyfriend that suggests that the Soviets would be weak and be easy prey for the Germans to invade. The end result being Germany involved in a war on two fronts that they couldn’t win.

What generally turns me off from Ludlum is the utterly outlandish plot lines and the ridiculous conspiracies that his novels often devolve into. This novel had none of those things. The story line was plausible and intriguing. The plot unfolded in a logical manner. There was enough action to keep the story moving, even though it wasn’t central to the story. The characters were well-defined. Even though the twist at the end wasn’t much of a twist, and I had figured it out about half way through the novel, the ending was still satisfying. This is the best Ludlum novel I have read and I would recommend it to readers of thrillers and historical fiction.

'Master storyteller' is what they say in the advance publicity for the latest high-powered ripping yarn from Robert Ludlum, and who could disagree with that? He knows how to tell them, does Mr Ludlum, having had plenty of practice since he published The Scarlatti Inheritance back in 1971, and 23 books later he is still going strong, cranking up the narrative tension like the old pro he undoubtedly is. So here we are in 1940 in enemy occupied Paris and one Stephen Metcalfe, American man about town, has a plan to save the free world from Nazi tyranny. And away he goes to Moscow to track down a ballerina who was once his lover whom he must betray in order to carry out his plan. In 30 years, Ludlum has sold 220 million books.

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In the fall of 1940, the Nazis are at the height of their power - France is occupied, Britain is enduring the Blitz and is under threat of invasion, America is neutral and Russia is in an uneasy alliance with Germany. Stephen Metcalfe, the younger son of a prominent American family, is a well-known man about town in occupied Paris. He's also a minor asset in the US's secret intelligence forces in Europe. Through a wild twist of fate, it falls to Metcalfe to instigate a bold plan that may be the only hope for what remains of the free world. Now he must travel to wartime Moscow to find, and possibly betray, a former lover - a fiery ballerina whose own loyalties are in question - in a delicate dance that could destroy all he loves and honours.

This, as most of Ludlum's books, is a page-turner. The first third of the book is well written, exciting and engaging. Though you still want to follow our spy, Metcalfe, to the end of the book, though it slows down a little in believability and excitement. Though there is still minor twist that I enjoyed because there are clues given before hand for you to figure it out before it is revealed.

The book starts with Metcalfe in his old age being summoned to 1991 Russia to help with interior turmoil. With that we flash back to where we can see him in action in NAZI occupied Europe. We see him operate in Paris, Moscow and Berlin. This is not his best book, but it is still worth reading. ( )

The sleek black limousine, with its polycarbonate-laminate bullet-resistant windows and its run-flat tires, its high-tech ceramic armor and dual-hardness carbon-steel armor plate, was jarringly out of place as it pulled into the Bittsevsky forest in the southwest area of the city.

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And for the first time in his eight decades, Stephen Metcalfe understood that certain gifts are indeed beyond price.

Moscow-a city under siege by hardcore Communists threatening to plunge the country back into Stalinist darkness. Into the heart of the firestorm, American ambassador Stephen Metcalf has been summoned to find the one man who controls the levers of power in absolute secrecy-an official known only as the Dirizhor. His support of the bloody coup will bring the entire world to the brink of nuclear war. Metcalfe is the only man with the cunning to reach him and to convince him to resist. It's up to Metcalf to change the course of history. He's done it before.

For Metcalf, returning to Russia is also a personal mission that will stretch across three continents and fifty years into his past where the loyalties of a former love-a woman both impossibly beautiful and possibly treacherous-were tested; where the shadow of a Nazi assassin still haunts; a debauched German aristocrat manipulated the destiny of everyone he touched. Now, as past and present converge, Metcalf braces himself for a new trial of trust and betrayal, one with chilling implications that could threaten what remains of the free world.

Working for United States secret intelligence forces in Europe during the Second World War, Stephen Metcalfe undertakes a bold plan for which he must locate and betray a former lover in order to protect free-world interests.